Tag Archives: space4cycling

Hammersmith and Fulham Council have a new Draft Cycling Strategy which is now in the final days of consultation, with comments due by this Friday, 16th January – Now Extended to 2nd February 2015.
You can review the strategy in full here and complete the council questionnaire. The strategy has taken on board briefings made by hfcyclists but does not yet contain firm commitments on how to deal with every barrier to cycling in the borough as identified in Space For Cycling. There is support for tackling major junctions, providing space for cycling, filtered permeability and 20mph so the tools are in discussion.

A proposed cycling network is also shared at the current high-level stage where not all alignments have been finalised. A positive sign is that there are two east-west superhighways proposed but unfortunately only the northern one is likely to continue all the way into town. The indicative quietways are likely to be many years away, and the junction improvement at Hammersmith Broadway by June 2017. Out most likely early change is to be 20mph and changes around Hammersmith Bridge.

– Hammersmith Bridge –
NOTE – survey now live here – https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HBconcepts
Already good response – but do share widely if you can.
John took group through his survey on Hammersmith Bridge, developed with
some assistance from Alex. Aim was to gather how people interpreting
newly painted lines, and test some concepts as well. Seeking feedback
from pedestrians and less confident cyclists in particular.
Paul queried about how some of the setups might work in rush hour, John
acknowledged workings showed some pressure there. John also cited
particular issues shown in working out concepts with oncoming traffic
versus lane widths. Visibility of cyclists to others vs. subjective
safety they experience a problem. Suzie expressed doubts change was
likely, Ken noted that as a lesser bridge traffic is more local even if
through.
Survey is using surveymonkey – cost is £24/month. Likely could run for 3
months so £72 total cost. No objections cited, Alex noted that though he
disagreed with technical argument, for using it he felt no issue in cost
given size of reserves.

– Space For Cycling Update –
Alex said support mostly happening at party level rather than wards.
Greens, Lib Dems and Labour all signed up in full to the ward asks.
Being nagged for a firmer detailed commitment on manifesto, but this
essentially there with Greens and Lib Dems. Conservatives now (14th May)
finally responding to queries – await responses but expect it may well
be at least partly negative. John said he had an email saying his ask
hadn’t been submitted fully, Alex asked him to forward on to him to see.
Alex checked with John on date for council being active. Not until July
– can discuss response/welcome to elected council post-election at next
meeting

– Big Ride Update –
http://hfcyclists.org.uk/2014/05/ride-us-support-space-cycling/
Confirmed date of Saturday 17th May, Alex coordinating and John to lead
ride (at least outbound). Alex, Ken, John, Paul S and Richard R signed
up currently with Janusz to confirm if able. More still welcome to help,
Alex noted that not just help with ride leading, but also helping
organize riders. Alex detailed leaflets, placards and other plans for
the start, all since out in public. Also demoed chalkboard to enable
people to take photos with a message of their choosing. As this was
cheap (£1) group reckoned worth getting a couple spare (now done). Alex
noted banner was now due back from printers (now arrived). Alex also
sought later clarification that we supported inviting politicians and
police to do bike marking. Both agreed. Bikeworks also invited to run Dr
Bike. No notable response on those so far, alas.

– Training – for Ride leaders –
Paul S suggested that we should look at funding training for rider
leaders. Alex notes for the minutes (after checking) that LCC has been
devising ride leader training and is developing a course with a
certificate. This is £250 for 10 ride leaders to be trained for 5 hours,
training by 2 experienced trainers and LCC can award certificate if
course roughly mid-June or later. Riders for that need to be experienced
and likely commit to lead at least one ride. This will go onto agenda at
next meeting – Can we get 10 riders? If not who could/should we invite?

– Training – for ordinary riders –
Patrina asked about this, most boroughs provide training at a low cost
for residents and workers. In Hammersmith & Fulham, this if £5 (can be
waived if unwaged) details on council page here:
http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/Transport_and_Streets/Walking_and_Cycling/Road_safety_-_cycling_and_walking_to_school/92182_Cycle_training.asp
Elsewhere in London, training is mentioned on TfL site, but they need to
fill in form. Probably still worth it though.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/start-cycling/cycle-training?cid=fs033
Note, LBHF also offer free training on bike maintenance:
http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/Community_and_Living/Safety/Personal_injury/156360_Cycle_Maintenance_Courses.asp

– John Gilbert –
had emailed on various issues supplementary to agenda – possible pontoon
routes, but outside borough. Still, would be interesting to hear more.
John also noted his company Bikeitup, stall at Acton market sometimes.
Had been in greenfest when we ran it, no clear opportunity from us for
similar opportunities at present.

– LCC Grant –
Ken – we can apply year by year, it’s about £2-300/yr, paid based on
members in borough. LCC anxious about large reserves. Asking branches to
waive grants and use reserves better. Reserve is 7200, grant this yr
would be 283. Seems sensible to waive from LCCs POV. John said he was
previously against waiving, but now not against that. Paul S asked if we
had waived before. Ken confirmed we hadn’t. Alex supportive. Context of
tight resources in LCC especially as supporting smaller/newer/busier
borough groups. LCC expressed thanks for waiver and said due to ours and
others now several additional £k funding in their campaigning.
AGM/ Next Meeting – Alex noted AGM last year was in June. Management
team felt ready but Ken noted we can put it off a month, then AGM in
July. Meeting agreed to knock back a month. Instead next meeting agreed
to be June at Suzie’s. July meeting may be delayed as Ken away, August
usually no meeting? September as AGM.

– Rides –
Sunset ride. Date confirmed by David Lomas as 18th June (bike week),
ride from Hammersmith to plan. Alex noted opportunity still there to do
rides on reworked Wandle trail (though Janusz noted not much reworked!)
and perhaps to an Ealing festival (but not the beer festival, by comment
agreement).

Other actions noted briefly at end
Potholes – Suzie said part of issue at Wood Lane, is that green surface
applied on top. Green surface flakes off. Alex said baked in colour
would help, but then protected space would be better still.
Summer canal meeting! Need to get in touch with Canal/River Trust.
School fairs – can we contact the schools, check dates of school fairs?
Alex noted he’d got schools directory as part of Space For Cycling,
would get in touch.

Costs – £30 for refreshments at the meeting. Alex notes he has some
further Space For Cycling expenses, but hard to know exact until
placards made. Roughly looking like about £15-20 extra. Receipts to be
totalled later.

Details of asks by ward and maps of the clusters and asks now live on the website: http://hfcyclists.org.uk/2014/02/space-cycling-themes-colour-agenda-decide/

Note – this timetable is HUGELY pessimistic on our pace and we may find the process faster and more straightforward.

The key to the meeting is that we must come up with one ask for each ward in the borough. Some roads are on the boundaries of boroughs, additionally some wards (especially Hammersmith Broadway) have a lot of suggested ideas. In such wards we may find combining several ideas into a bigger ask the best solution. We should also discuss how we might create extra material (especially video) by the end of the month to support the asks. I’m quite happy to take charge of production of such pieces but I’m keen for extra ideas on how to make that work! And if anyone wants to feature in a video that is especially welcome.

Let me know if you’ve any queries and feel free to start to comment on the email list replying to this message as well. I know not everyone can make the meeting, but feedback ahead is especially welcome.

Towards the end of 2013 we asked you for your feedback on barriers to cycling in Hammersmith and Fulham and beyond. We are delighted with the level of responses we’ve had and have had plenty of data to review over Christmas and New Year.

There are obvious clusters at Hammersmith Broadway and Shepherd’s Bush Green, where gyratories present a barrier to many. Additionally you can see repeated patterns along many key routes, highlighting the lack of provision on East-West routes that many use for commuting.

We have highlighted in black the roads where interventions have been suggested by the survey data. These actually form a reasonable basic grid, though the gaps in Fulham and elsewhere need to be addressed.

Please explore the map and let us know by comment or email if you’ve anything you’d like to see added.

As part of our campaign towards the local elections next year in May, we are asking everyone to take some time to look at the areas of London they know and how they might change them to make them and make cycling more pleasant.

There are six key themes or questions we’d ask you to think about:

Is there a main road or major junction that needs protected lanes?

Do your local schools have safe cycling routes for children?

Would your neighbourhood benefit from a 20mph speed limit?

Is your residential street used as a rat-run by motorists?

Is riding through your local town centre a total nightmare?

Does your local park or green space need more cycle paths?

We have a survey for you to complete to let us know where you would like to see changes. We will then collate these responses and through a meeting likely in January but perhaps February we will focus in on particular issues and combine your responses to create our local demands. These will be put to local candidates throughout London next year.

Obviously we would like people to focus on Hammersmith and Fulham, but most people’s experience will range over more than just this borough. Choose where you feel is most important. It doesn’t matter if you cycle a lot, barely at all or never – what we want is to know what concerns you.

There is an overview of the themes available for all of London which you may find useful. To give some local context, here’s a quick overview of the status of Hammersmith and Fulham on each of the themes, these may help you if you aren’t sure of the kind of things each theme or question is thinking of.

Is there a main road or major junction that needs protected lanes?

There is some protected space on King Street for the contraflow cycle lane, and there are the (shared) paths inside Shepherd’s Bush Green. By protected we mean a lane separated such that no mishap might easily lead to conflict with motor vehicles, usually protected by a kerb or other separation. No major road in the borough currently has protected space on it as part of a major through route. As to major junctions, the gyratories at Shepherd’s Bush Green and Hammersmith Broadway loom large, but even a T-junction can be dangerous with the wrong design.

Note that 20mph limits are distinct from zones. A limit requires no specific traffic calming to self-enforce it, but rather signage and awareness. Police are moving towards enforcing 20mph zones. There is a map of 20mph areas in the borough on the council website which is mostly up to date, which shows school locations.

Is your residential street used as a rat-run by motorists?

There are a limited number of locations in the borough where restrictions have been used to reduce through traffic. There are many locations such as Trussley Road where narrow quieter streets remain used as through routes which can even totally block the road for cycling.

Is riding through your local town centre a total nightmare?

We have three town centres in the borough – Fulham, Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush but there are many smaller high-streets and continuous lines of shops and commercial development. This is different from thinking about main roads as we are also thinking of things that make destinations work – parking for example. Measures to make the town centre more pleasant most certainly would not just be for cyclists so also think of issues for walking around once you’ve parked. Although it is a shopping centre, making Westfield permeable to cyclists seems a reasonable ask here as well.

Does your local park or green space need more cycle paths?

Here the borough scores quite well, with shared use paths permitted in most parks. However, if there is a green space where either an extra route might make it more useful for training youngsters, or if a simple link could join up a longer route into a network.

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We are the local branch of the London Cycle Campaign (LCC) for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. We also cover Shepherd's Bush but that's not part of the name of our borough, a fuller guide to where we cover is here.